


Pillars - The Bull

by Behemoth_King



Series: Pillars(Drabble) [9]
Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Byleth does some more thinking, F/F, F/M, Fishing Trip, Gen, babey drago
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-31
Updated: 2019-11-15
Packaged: 2021-01-15 13:36:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,115
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21254237
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Behemoth_King/pseuds/Behemoth_King
Summary: Byleth takes her daughter out to enjoy one of her many favorite activities, and teaches her a forgotten nabatean fishing technique.





	1. Gone Fishin’

The sea breeze came up over the cliff, salt coating their skin.

“Mother, are you sure this is ok?” Kain asked her with concern, glancing around the both of them for prying eyes. A particular strong gust hit and freed parts of her daughter’s long bangs from her ponytail. Byleth took in a deep breath, savoring the familiar taste of seasalt.

“I’m right here with you. There’s nothing to be afraid of.” She rubbed Kain’s shoulder softly and looked into her alert brown eyes.

“But Father or Dad might find out. Aren’t you worried about that?” The alertness didn’t fade a single fraction and Byleth frowned a little, kneeling down in front of her.

El at least has already begun to notice things that weren’t normal, and while it was easy believe that the twins were simply gifted with a the ability to learn and grow quicker than normal, Tanniyn’s development has directly mirrored theirs step by step. As a result, Manuela has been checking in on them more often lately. Hints of fear born from a bygone era gnawed at her bones. If Felix had any concerns or worries of his own, he was successful in hiding them. But that wasn’t important right now.

“Then they find out. Come on, the fish are waiting for us.” She pressed a kiss to Kain’s forehead and ruffled up her hair, making it even more messy before taking off towards the cliff.

“Mom!” The young girl whined as she ran behind her, voice fighting to be heard over the strong winds, her worries finally forgotten.

Closing her eyes, Byleth exhaled deeply as she leapt off the cliff into the ocean in front of her, feeling the crackle in her bones, rips in her muscles. She was grateful that Seiros taught her that spell to deal with her clothes not tearing as her body changed from that of a human, to her original form.

The saltwater felt warm around her body, the sea current gently washing away the grime on her feathers and let her gills open to finally inhale, a favorite habit of hers. But at the lack of a splash after her own, Byleth quickly dove down and then turned around to peak her now draconic head out of the water.

Kain looked at her from above, the girl tentatively glanced down the steep cliff’s edge.

“I know you can do it, sweetling.” Byleth trilled to her with sound unlikely any Fódlan tongue. The waves crashed against her, the feeling still pleasant after so many years. Due to her current size, their strength was highly minimized compared to if she was still in her human form.

Kain then disappeared from the edge, but only for a moment. With a shout her daughter finally leaped off, the force used strong enough to carry the girl farther that she herself went.

Byleth readied herself in case Kain couldn’t change in time, swirling her tail around to create thrust, the movement instinctual. Her wings were kept tight against her side but capable of unfurling the moment they were free from the water.

But Kain morphed into her nabatean form perfectly, her wings aiding in her descent into the soothing saltwater with a relatively quiet splash.

A second later had Kain poke her head out of the water, and Byleth couldn’t resist licking her muzzle.

“Mom! Cut it out!” Kain giggled involuntarily at the sensation and tried to splashed water with her front paws into Byleth’s face to try and stop the onslaught of grooming.

Chuckling deeply, Byleth switched to nuzzling the still juvenile nabatean a bit before speaking. “Come on then, these fish aren’t going to catch themselves.”

—

Down into the depths they dove, though not too far due to Kain’s smaller size, she wasn’t yet big enough to handle the higher pressure levels. The coral reefs, while colorful and full of live, had to be left behind. Using their wings they glided through the water, the unique structure of their bones allowing them to function similar to fins.

Further out into the sea, save for a pod of dolphins and a shark or two, the ocean seemed empty.

But Byleth knew better. She checked on Kain beside her, who had deemed it very important to their current goal that she swim upside down.

The schools hid from their eyes due to the murkiness of the water. However, nabateans were well equipped to find their quarry.

Surges of electricity, ever so small, had painted a different picture of the surrounding oceanscape. Three schools were a few nautical miles out, two were big enough for what she had planned for them to do today. 

“Do you feel them?” Byleth looked at Kain again, still upside down.

“Are they supposed to feel like dots?” The smaller dragon asked, gripping her head with her paws in a futile attempt to focus.

“Big dots or small ones?” 

“Starts out big but they break up into small ones and then quickly merge back....it’s confusing.” A small snarl escaped Kain’s muzzle and her gills flared up as she explained.

Byleth racked her brain, trying to come up with a possible reason why her daughter’s other sight was not working properly.

“I mean, I can feel some of the stuff below us just fine. There’s an adventurous hatchetfish near—aaaaand it’s dead. Too adventurous.”

“Are....are you sensing everything around us?” Byleth asked incredulously, she had an inkling about what was wrong now.

“Uh huh. Am I not supposed to be able to? There’s a shark tailing behind us by about a mile.” Kain righted herself, looking confused now.

On impulse Byleth shook her head, albeit slightly, mindful of the effect it would have while submerged in the water. “Not at this age. The schools are simply out of your wide range distance. If you focus ahead of you, that should make them clearer than dots.”

“Ok, let me try.........oooh I see them, mom! I see them.” Kain trilled excitedly, and Byleth let out a rumbling chuckle at her victory barrel roll.

“What are they?” She continued her drilling.

“Two of them are tuna. But the third is herring.”

“And their sizes...”  
—

The lesson continued for some time, but once Byleth was sure that her daughter was confident enough, they resumed their course.

Dark shapes on top of the water slowly came into view, as did the telltale signs of fishing nets.

There was currently a food shortage digging its claws into the empire, a sleeping side-affect of the war. Seiros thought that her idea was risky, but Byleth felt the burden of leadership all the same, and she’d be damned if she couldn’t help in some way. An increase of fish here, spooking more animals into traps there, and even relearning deeper magic to help with faster crop growth. 

Helping the local fishermen get a bigger catch was her usual assisting method. She had already done this further up north while staying in Fhirdiad with Felix, only without Kain or Abel’s assistance. The water was too cold for their young bodies to regulate properly and both of their absences would be very noticable.

But on the way back home to Enbarr was the perfect opportunity. A whole rest day so that the two could fish would not draw the same suspicions.

—

Byleth could tell her instructing was finally beginning to annoy her daughter, judging from the loud sigh she released as she began talking. “Your health is more important that the fish being caught. Only push the fish into the nets, not kill. We’ll catch our own after.”

And with a whip of their tails, they took off towards the schools. The combination of their spell conjuring breath and shepherding techniques aiding them with filling the nets with the unfortunate creatures.

The herring would give them the most trouble due to their smaller body size, but Kain’s aim with her breath and tail made that moot. Her agility was very impressive, enough that Byleth wondered if she inherited it from Felix instead.

Though Byleth panicked a little when she noticed Kain using her tail to launch some of the tuna out of the water, which then presumable landed in a boat. But nothing uneventful happened during their labor. Her people would not starve so easily.


	2. Coming Home

The sun was spiraling down, morning and noon having passed by.

The two found themselves against a undersea cliff-face. Byleth had her feathers repeat its rocky pattern, shielding her existence to onlookers. Kain was attempting the same, but seemed to keep flashing back to her true dark color momentarily.

She said nothing because a solitary fish had expressed interest in the bait laid out for it.

Their tongues were long and almost tubular, looking much like a worm to the untrained, a perfect replica of a fine meal for many hungry marine animals. And apparently one poor thing was more hungry than it was cautious. Within seconds Kain snapped at her prize, her colors staying shifted during the attack. Progress.

—

Kain had swiftly fell asleep against her back as they made their way back to the village they were staying at during today’s rest. Her daughter was in no danger of falling as she had wrapped her old mercenary coat around her torso and over her shoulder, which also served to hide Kain from observant eyes.

Byleth make her way back to the inn without a fuss. The innkeeper froze when she saw her but no mind was paid to her. It was still weird to be somebody after all this time.

(Memories of small ones coming to her with questions and concerns came to her. Why do we avoid these creatures, what are rocks, where does the brightness come from, etc... Initially, Seiros would shooing them away, stating that her time was more valuable elsewhere, causing many of them to frown...as well as they could frown. Despite her own inexperience resulting from recently gaining sentience, Byleth knew the young one was simply possessive and had no discipline yet. She was everything to her.)

Kain shifted a bit, and Byleth found herself back at the inn going up stairs, the recollecting only taking a few seconds despite having felt longer.

A faergian guard stood at the end of the hall, surrounded by rooms. Taking notice of her presence, he bowed his head. Despite Hubert’s continued advice otherwise, she bowed back. Behind him was Kain and Abel’s room for the night.

—

The imperial troops that would accompany her during the journey back to Enbarr had already turned in. Felix always insisted on personally escorting her back half of the way. She found it sweet, despite the crowds of uninformed people who thought he had ill intent in doing so or it was due to private orders from Edelgard.

The real reason, she had surmised, went all the way back to when Glenn died to protect Dimitri, though he denies that it has any connection to that horrible tragedy. His tenseness, which always showed up during their last days together for a time, always told her the truth.

As Byleth reached the door, the guard reached for the handle.

“Allow me, my lady.” His voice sounded familiar to her in a way. Then she saw the house sigil engraved into his helmet.

House Gautier. But he was obviously not Sylvain since Ingrid was due soon. And even if she wasn’t, the man fought too hard to be at her side to willingly be this far away.

“Thank you, sir.” The slight sound of metal clanking, a kneejerk-like reaction, told her which part of the family he was from.

“Ah! I mean, Your Majesty...I mixed it up, my apologies.” His voice was frantic, a tone strange to hear considering how similar he sound to his cousin.

“You’re forgiven, Sir Jaris.” He kept trying to say something, but stayed silent.

With his help unhooking Kain’s arms, who had then grabbed and refused to let go of the coat, she laid the girl and article of clothing in the bed next to Abel.

Instantly when reunited, they grabbed and snuggle up with one another. Byleth kissed each of their heads while whispering sweet nothings to soothe them back to sleep, conceding to defeat and separation from her lost jacketX

She then bid Jaris a good night, making sure that the implications of how heavy his duty were readable on her face. The youth nodded wordlessly and resumed his post, with even more vigor than before.

—

“I’m surprised you didn’t come looking for us.” Byleth spoke the moment she heard the lock in the door make itself known.

Felix was sitting on the bed, already down to his sleepwear, which amounted to just a cheap looking pair of breeches that he always seemed to have on hand and that damn collar. Byleth never knew if he wore it because of El’s ‘training’ or if Felix actually missed her while in Faerghus.

Unceremoniously, she began removing herself from her clothes as she made her way to him. Her method has always amused El, while Felix always thought it was the natural order of things.

“I know how long you like to fish and if there was any trouble you’d find a way to let me know.” Felix spoke softly and ran a calloused hand up and down her thigh reassuringly.

Byleth settled into his lap and loosely wrapped her arms around him. His muscles were way too tense. “What’s wrong, love?” She asked and began rubbing his shoulders.

“A lot of things. Too many to be specific. But—“ He paused to grab a parchment piece from the small nightstand and handed it to her. “This arrived today.”

‘To my dearest Byleth,

It would truly seem that our daughter takes after you more than me, which under different circumstances I would find to be a blessing.

Much like yourself, Tanniyn prefers to hibernate when unwell, albeit with snarling whenever disturbed. I don’t like to wonder where we would be without Hubert and Ferdinand in these moments. Rest assured there is nothing to worry about, I just wanted to inform you because it is the first time she has gotten sick.

your emperor,  
Edelgard von Hresvelg’

Byleth studied the message, recognizing that El had addressed Felix in her usual way, with the lack capitalization at the bottom. In truth, the message was for him rather than herself as it would seem suspicious for the emperor to share such casual information with the warden of Faerghus.

Byleth smiled as she buried her face into his neck. “Your little cub is fine, dear.”

“Am I not allowed to be worried?” He huffed in annoyance, but wrapped his arms around her before laying them both back onto the mattress. Her lower body thrummed to life at the feeling of his body under her own again, though she knew it was best to squash it.

“As much as El is towards the twins.” Byleth chuckled before lowering her face down to kiss Felix, control slowly slipping. Rough hands began massaging her back.

Had it not been for their location, Felix would undoubtedly begun tearing at her like a starved feral wolf. Byleth kept that in mind, resisting the urge to rake her nails across his chest and growl against his lips.

They eventually broke for air, and finally she felt his muscles start to relax as she curled up against his side. “I am happy that you do.”

Felix hummed, somewhat absentmindedly. “I’m mostly tired.”

“Hmm?”

“Of all this.” Felix gestured at the air around them. “Ferrying you back and forth between Fhirdiad under the cover of ‘peacekeeping’. Making Kain and Abel afraid to show excitement whenever we come to the capital, in case they can’t see you, El, or Tanniyn...” He then sucked in a sharp breath.

Byleth’s nose barely picked up on the salty smell.

“I’m just tired Byleth. And I know the children are too.” He turned away from her, shielding his eyes from view.

And Byleth agreed with him. It’s easy before, to speak of numbers without knowing the true cost. Everything was getting unbearable now. And if it was affecting their little ones like that...

They had to talk with El.

“Come with me.” She raised up, looking him in the eye.

“To Enbarr? I can’t leave Faerghus without a riot happening somewhere. On a whim, it could be worse.” Felix frowned, muscles getting tense again.

“We need to make our case together. Send your guard back to Fhirdiad with a missive. Send another to Sylvain. I will walk all the way to their hold myself and beg for their forgiveness on my knees if it hun away too long.” Byleth cupped his face gently, running her thumbs up and down his cheeks. They were a bit redder now, he kept saying how he could never get used to how soft she would be with him outside of their usual habitat.

Felix went into deep thought for a moment, eyes looking away from hers.

“Spar with me.” His eyes then narrowed back at her, as if predicting her thoughts. “Win and I’ll do it.”

A jolt went through her body. Despite all the time she spent in Faerghus with Felix, they barely got to spar properly. Even when they made excuses to retired to their rooms afterwards to actually meet up later. It just wasn’t the same as one of them shoving the other against the wall while unbuckling each others belts.

Byleth suppressed the pleasured growl at the thought of such activities before it escaped her throat. “I saw a place, while we were on our way back.”

“Good. But to make this even more interesting. If you win, I won’t touch you until Enbarr. If I win, I’ll go all night long and into the morning.”

Byleth froze.

“You wouldn’t dare...” She trailed off, her desires trying to come to terms with the limitation. It would be hard to force her body to go against it even though she must.

“Think of it as a test. To see what you truly value.” Felix’s voice was coy despite his serious face. “Well?”

Byleth took in a breath and let it out, shooing out her intrusive thoughts. “...I accept your challenge, Felix Hugo Fraldarius.” She answered with confidence. It was more important in the long term for all of them. Byleth had seen El look in the direction of Fhirdiad often enough to know she was suffering as well. “I’m confident that I can hold out until Enbarr.”

“Assuming you’ll win.” Felix smirked at her before pulling her face down for a long kiss.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...and that concludes today’s NatGeoWild!
> 
> Also, Sveng rights?

**Author's Note:**

> Nabateans are primarily piscivores(blame Flayn) and you can’t take that away from me.


End file.
